Mrs Harrison is the Class Teacher in Dolphins. Mrs Harrison really enjoys sharing stories and going on adventures. For the Autumn term, Mrs Harrison is really looking forward to our 'making a healthy smoothie' DT project.  Miss Richards is a teaching assistant in Year 1. She loves  to read and spend time with her dog Frank. She enjoys teaching phonics and working with the children.  Miss Richards likes our geography lessons and can’t wait to go on a walk around our local area this term! Additionally, Mrs Wilson is a Teaching Assistant working in Turtles and Dolphins. She enjoys going for long walks, live music and being at the seaside. Mrs Wilson is looking forward to working with all the lovely year 1 children this year. Lucky Dolphins also get Mrs Hawkins. Mrs Hawkins works in Dolphins, Turtles and Puffins Class. Mrs Hawkins really enjoys teaching RSHE, Music, Maths and reading stories. In her spare time, Mrs Hawkins loves to spend time with her family and go on lovely long walks with Mr Hawkins. For the Autumn Term, Mrs Hawkins is looking forward to getting to know all the children in KS1.

PE in Dolphins is on Wednesday and Thursday.

Continuous Provision

In Year 1, our children have access to continuous provision. Continuous provision describes the different areas around the classroom which are readily available for our children to use on a daily basis. Our children have access to the following areas: writing, maths, reading, creative, construction, small world, home corner, fine motor, sand and water. Throughout their school day, our children have the opportunities to explore a range of resources as well as engage with enhancements that have been carefully planned by our Year 1 teachers. Our continuous provision will help our children embed concepts and learn new skills whilst challenging their thinking across our Crescent curriculum.

Writing

Our children will begin their writing journey by exploring the book 'Meesha Makes Friends.'  We will be working on combine words to make sentences, leaving spaces between words, beginning to use capital letters and full stops and the use the capital letters for the names of people and the personal pronoun 'I'. We will explore this text through pathways and drawing club approaches.

We will finish the unit with a focus on poetry - a friendship poem and an autumn poem.  We will look at simple features of a poem and write our own.

Phonics

With regards to phonics, we will begin teaching basics 3 and then move onto basics 4 in the second half of the term. We will revisit digraphs and trigraphs, along with tricky words to embed learning. Basics 4 will introduce CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC, CCCVCC words along with polysyllabic words.

Geography

Let’s go on an exciting adventure to learn about ‘Where am 1?’. We will begin by thinking about our classroom before looking at where our school is. Next, we will look at where our town of Mansfield is in our country and then where our country is in the world. Finally, we will investigate the seasons in the United Kingdom and begin to think about the weather in the rest of the world.

Science

This term, we’re diving into some exciting topics that connect us with the world around us! First up, we’ll explore Seasonal Changes. In September, we’ll ask, “Are all leaves the same?” to help children appreciate the variety of foliage they encounter. As autumn sets in, we’ll investigate “Which animals share our space?” prompting discussions about local wildlife. By early winter, we’ll focus on whether “Do all trees shed their leaves?” as we observe nature's transformations.

Next, we’ll shift gears to the Human Body and Senses. We’ll kick off with the question, “Is everybody’s body the same?” which will spark thoughtful conversations about our unique identities. We’ll encourage exploration with activities focusing on touch, sound, and smell, asking, “What can we hear?” and “What smells do we like and dislike?” Finally, we’ll peel back the layers of taste with “What differences can our tongues taste?” to celebrate the diverse flavours we enjoy.

RSHE - Relationships, Sex and Health Education

In year one, we will be exploring how to be welcoming and friendships. We will learn about recognising and respecting differences. Our children will talk about the importance of being safe online, thinking about what to do if we are worried or frightened. Additionally, we will learn about the importance of a good bedtime routine and sleep!

Maths

Our year 1 maths journey will begin by sorting, counting and representing objects. We will work on recognising numbers as words as well as counting on from any number and backwards from 10. The children will begin using language such as fewer, more and same and finding 1 more and 1 less. Number bonds to 10, will be our next focus before exploring addition and subtraction. Finally, the children will recognise and name 2D and 3D shapes, sorting them and looking at patterns.

Art and Design and Technology

In our art sessions, we'll dive into the exciting world of mark making! We'll kick off by exploring different ways of drawing lines to connect points, and then we'll get creative with patterns using repetition. Our children will have the chance to understand the basics of painting with a brush, while experimenting with various materials and techniques. To top it all off, we'll take inspiration from the whimsical style of Paul Klee, encouraging the children to imitate and then create their own unique art pieces in his style. Let’s unleash some creativity and have fun with our art!

​Our design and technology unit will culminate with making smoothies! Children will learn the difference between fruit and vegetables. They will gain an understanding of where fruit and vegetables are grown before completing some exciting taste tests!